MARS PETCARE ENTERS THE EUROPEAN VETERINARY MARKET

06/11/2018

For more than 80 years, Mars Petcare has provided pets worldwide with the highest quality food and nutrition, research and technology.

And it is approaching 25 years since we made our move into providing veterinary care. We’ve learned a lot throughout our journey: from our first partnership with BANFIELD™ Pet Hospital to welcoming the professionals of BLUEPEARL® and PET PARTNERS™, to our acquisition of VCA™ just last year. We began with a vision to provide high-quality veterinary medicine and today we employ some 50,000 veterinary professionals dedicated to the care of more than 10 million pets annually in North America.

Europe was our natural next step. There are more than 200 million companion animals in Europe, so we are proud to announce two significant milestones in the development of our veterinary business in the region.

Last week, we announced that Linnaeus, a UK-based provider of first-class veterinary care across its network of five specialist referral hubs and 82 first opinion practices, would join our Mars Petcare Veterinary Health Group.

And today we announced that AniCura, a leading group of animal hospitals and clinics across seven European countries – is also set to join our Veterinary Health Group. AniCura has more than 4,000 passionate veterinary professionals working across 200 animal hospitals and clinics specialized in veterinary care for companion animals.

These two new acquisitions mark the start of Mars Petcare’s strategic entry into the European veterinary care market, giving us a presence in eight markets across the world’s second largest region for veterinary care, and bringing together our notable veterinary expertise in North America with high quality, well-established practices within Europe.

“Pets have made their way into our hearts and our homes, and I know from the joy my family and I get from our Labrador, Twixie, just how important they can be in our lives. The veterinary care industry is rapidly evolving, and as a family-owned business we have the privilege of being able to think in terms of decades. As the second largest region in the world for pet care, European pet care is expected to grow significantly over the coming years. There is a great opportunity to address growing demand by providing high quality, consistent veterinary care across Europe,” says Poul Weihrauch, President, Mars Petcare.

Together with Mars Petcare, AniCura and Linnaeus we’ll be in a position to benefit from our respective best practices and competencies, improving clinical practice and continuing to advance the veterinary profession in North America and Europe. For pets this will mean improved care, and for pet parents this will mean healthier, happier pets at affordable costs.

It’s another important step as we strive to create: A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS.